Pune: The Pune Rural police on Saturday seized 479kg of ganja kept in two locked drums at a farm in Jalochi village near Baramati, about 105 km from Pune. The police suspected the ganja was smuggled into the district on the backdrop of Holi. “The accused abandoned it following stringent nakabandi operations, vehicle checks and night patrolling in the Baramati area,” police inspector Shrishail Chiwadshetti of the Baramati City police told TOI. The officer said that on Saturday evening, the police got a tip-off that a large quantity of ganja was smuggled into the district and kept in two drums at Jalochi village. When the police team led by sub-inspector Rantandeep Bhandare reached the spot, they found two locked drums kept in a farmland. The drums were brought to the police station and opened. “We found 465 packets of ganja in the drums. There was 479kg of ganja in those packets, and the market value of the ganja was worth Rs2.39 crore,” the officer said. Chiwadshetti said that the spot where the drums were kept was in a secluded area. To avoid police checks, the accused may have kept the ganja in the two drums. “We are searching for the persons who were involved in the smuggling of ganja in the district,” Chiwadshetti said.
